Meet The Unlikely Family
by Ginger Anastase
Summary: Modern AU. Enjolras and Eponine? Parents? Really? Well, stranger things have happened... *HIATUS*
1. Even The Kid Knows They Can't Cook

**Hello, I got bored of my other story so I thought I would start a new one. I'll probably update my other story at some point but this plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone! Film cast as the characters: Samantha Barks as Eponine, Aaron Tveit as Enjolras and so on…. Anyway, let me introduce you to the unlikely family….**

1. Even The Kid Knows They Can't Cook

"Honey, I'm home!" shouted Eponine Thenardier from the door. She slammed it closed and dropped the shopping bags on the floor with a huff, wiping her forehead of exhaustion sweat. The apartment was quiet apart from the tapping of a computer keyboard coming from the living room.

"Hi, how was your day?" shouted back Alexandre Enjolras with a smile. He put down his laptop, leaving it precariously balanced on the edge of the sofa, and greeted Eponine with a kiss. She shrugged and began retrieving several healthy food items from her shopping bags.

"It was long. It probably would've easier if _somebody_ would get off their arse and help me with daily household chores but no, that couldn't be done," she teased, getting on tip-toes to slide the detergent on top of the cupboard.

"Come on," he whined, "You know I've got a lot of work to do!"

She surrendered, a bottle of washing up liquid in both hands as she raised them. "I know! I know! Just please tell me that you've spared enough time to look after the kid?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

Enjolras chuckled, "I am not that much of a bad parent, you know."

That made her laugh because, sometimes, he was unbelievably irresponsible when it came to the child. His talent for keeping his friends in line didn't stretch to making sure the three-year-old was in check.

He returned to his laptop to finish typing up his college essay. He had to admit, this particular subject bored him to tears but he couldn't let on to Eponine that he wasn't enjoying himself or she would probably make him give up on it and help clean the house. He shuddered, the violent movement catching Eponine's eye as she finished unpacking the weekly shop.

"Are you okay?" she asked approaching him warily.

"I'm fine, ma chérie," he answered, plastering on a sweet smile that she saw through easily. She frowned, a sly smile on her face then leaned down over the back of the sofa and wrapped her arms around his neck, peeking over his shoulder at his essay.

"What the hell are you on about here?" she questioned, pointing to a sentence in the third paragraph on the screen. Enjolras sighed.

"I'm saying that…Ugh never mind, you'll just make fun of me for being all philosophical and technical."

Eponine kissed his cheek and removed her arms from his neck, mock-pouting.

"I would never do such a thing," she stated, flinging her arms expressively, "Although you did just use two pretty big words so…maybe you could be a little less stuck-up college-boy and a bit more loving boyfriend?"

He arched an eyebrow this time and lolled his head to look at her. "Okay, firstly, if 'philosophical' and 'technical' are big words to your then I worry about you education level."

She threw a cushion at him.

"And secondly," he began, throwing the cushion back, "I am a loving boyfriend _and_ a stuck-up college-boy. After five years together, two break-ups and one child, I thought you would have gotten used to that."

Without a suitable come-back, Eponine just stuck her tongue out at him and started creeping towards the kid's bedroom.

"Is he asleep?" she whispered uselessly after having been talking quite loudly for the past ten minutes.

"No," replied college-boy/loving boyfriend, his attention back on his computer screen, "He's playing with his toys."

Eponine was about to nod and carry on towards the bedroom when a toddler blasted out of said room and attacked her legs.

"Mama!" he screamed, promptly raising his arms to be picked up. She grinned proudly at her son and obliged, swooping him up and balancing him on her hip. He lifted her left hand and began playing with her fingers.

"How have you been today, ma petit?" she asked animatedly, smiling fondly at the sparkle in the little boy's brown eyes.

Léon, their three-year-old son, had his mind concentrated on removing Eponine's mood ring room her index finger but he mumbled a reply, his voice growing in excitement as he went on.

"I played with my toys then Papa made me lunch that tasted icky and then I played on Papa's computer and then we watched telly and then I played with my toys and then you came back and then I _ran _to give you a hug!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

Eponine half-smiled. "It tasted icky, did it?" she looked over to Enjolras. "Did you hear that, Papa?" she said smugly, "I am a better cook than you."

Léon pulled on Eponine's hair, shaking his head manically. "But, Mama, your food is icky too!"

Enjolras burst out laughing, rather uncharacteristically of him, causing Eponine to laugh with him. Léon wasn't quite sure what was so funny but decided that it was _hilarious _and started beaming too.

"Okay, well maybe we ask Tante Musichetta to make you dinner," she muttered, smiling.

Léon nodded absent-mindedly, a crease forming in his forehead as he focused intently on Eponine's mood ring.

Enjolras huffed and closed his laptop. He got up and stretched then wandered over to his son, reaching his arms out to take him. Eponine let Léon slide her mood ring off as she transferred the child to her boyfriend. She took a step back and watched the father and son argue happily about Enjolras's cooking. It was scary how much they looked a like. Her son had the same blonde curly hair as him and exactly the same nose and mouth. His eyes were the same shape as his father's and his laugh was frighteningly similar, although perhaps higher. Léon had inherited Eponine's brown eyes, though. She grudgingly accepted that that was the _only_ physical thing he had inherited from her but she didn't mind. Hopefully her biting sarcasm and witty comebacks had mirrored themselves in her son's genes.

She hoisted up her tight blue jeans and ruffled Léon's hair. Enjolras put his spare arm around her and kissed her cheek.

"Don't we make quite the unlikely family?" he chuckled. Eponine half-smiled and twisted her head up to kiss him properly, but her mind couldn't help but wander to her ring finger that was _still _lacking an engagement ring…

**How did you like it? I understand that they are probably a little OOC but it is modern times so I thought they'd behave a little differently. Please review and thanks for reading, you fabulous people.**


	2. Let's Get It On, Or Not

**Warning: Bad language and scenes of an almost sexual nature. Have fun!**

**Thank you to **_**I love you Roza**_**, **_**phangirl2017, pinkglitter2901, sparksbolts **_**and**_** Lola **_**for reviewing, I really appreciate it and I hope I'll improve from your comments :D. Also thank you to anyone who followed or favourited, I love you all. Enjoy!**

2. Let's Get It On...Or Not

Enjolras huffed again, crossing his arms like a child. He and Eponine were watching television. Léon had gone to bed hours before with his teddy.

"It's just not realistic!" Enjolras mumbled sulkily. He rarely sulked but he had seen his own son get his way after throwing a tantrum so often that he thought he might try it too.

Eponine rolled her eyes. "Honey, I love you, but I swear to God if you don't stop talking then I might have to do unfriendly things to your Complete Works Of Shakespeare. We're watching Doctor Who for crying out fucking loud! It's not going to be the most 'down to earth' kind of thing, is it?"

Enjolras coughed away his chuckle but soon clamped his hand over her mouth. "You'll wake up Léon with your effing and blinding! God knows we do _not _want him picking up your bad language."

She laughed quietly and bit his finger. He scowled and back-handed her.

"Well," she mused, snuggling closer into his side, "His first word was 'rebel' so I doubt he's going to turn out anything like me. He might grow up to be a badass like you."

Enjolras smiled a little. "I hope so. But he seems to have picked the good out of the both of us."

She nodded. "He better not turn out a moody bitch like you used to be."

He raised an eyebrow. "Used to be?"

She nodded again. "You've changed, love. For the better," she said sincerely. She felt she was being too serious, the atmosphere drastically morphing from playful to heartfelt. Their relationship was rarely a solemn one. Enjolras had learnt that after trying to have a constructive conversation with her; she would crack a smile and start making fun of his 'serious face'. Some people might call that a dysfunctional relationship, Enjolras' mother had often reprimanded them for having a child when they were barely past being immature children themselves, but they weren't fazed. They may have been slightly unknowledgeable about looking after people under ten years old but no-one could tell them how to bring their Léon up. Not even Cosette who thought she knew everything about children despite not having one herself.

"I think that it's all down to me, though," she boasted, lightening the mood, "Without me and my flirtatious nature, you would still be all mean and cold. You certainly wouldn't have gotten as far as getting me pregnant if you hadn't cheered up."

He pouted. "You're nasty."

"Don't pretend you don't love it," she purred, mock-seductively licking her lips and winking at him. He couldn't help but chuckle; she was rather lovely. Her dark brown eyes did that sparkly thing when she laughed that made him all warm and fuzzy inside. That's saying something because Enjolras is _not _a warm and fuzzy human being.

"Hey, you know…" she began suggestively, swinging her legs from the floor and onto his lap, "Léon is asleep and you know how much you want to get into my pants right now."

He looked at her incredulously. "You think you're so irresistible."

She scowled and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his lips closer to hers just to prove a point. Her hand slipped from his neck and travelled down his chest, resting on his waist. His breathing hitched a little but he didn't let on that he was _totally _going to kiss her in a minute. Eponine tugged on his hair, leaning in closer to whisper in his ear, letting him feel her warm breath on his cheek and smell her perfume so strongly that he might pass out. Her lips parted, the barest sound of skin leaving skin made him shiver.

"I'm still not irresistible, Monsieur?" she asked, pretending to be disappointed. He didn't reply, trying to stand his ground. She sighed and started to get up, "Okay, fine. I guess I'll just leave then."

He grabbed onto her hand and swung her around so she was sitting on his lap with her feet over the arm of the sofa.

"Fine, you win," he grumbled.

She threw her head back and laughed before leaning into kiss him. It was so very sweet to start off with but that was never going to last now, was it? She moaned and smiled against his mouth when he smoothed his hands over the curves of her torso. He knew exactly what made her happy; she'd made sure of that. Her hands slipped from his now tangled hair and under his jacket. She pulled it off so subtly that he hardly noticed it.

"You're sure that Léon's asleep?" she murmured as his lips softly touched on the sensitive part behind her ear.

"Yep."

She was about to argue, even though she had initiated all of this, but he bit the tender skin of her neck and her mind wandered off to somewhere awesome.

He wrapped his hands around her thighs and lifted her with him as he stood up. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he began walking to their bedroom without breaking the kiss. She undid the first few buttons of his shirt.

The phone rang.

"Oh, fuck life," grunted Eponine bitterly.

"Just ignore it!" he argued.

She shook her head and jumped down from his hips to answer while Enjolras smacked his forehead. She laughed at him and picked up the phone, stopping its incessant beeping.

"Hello?" she said cheerily, as Enjolras went to hit his head against the table.

"_Eponine?"_ came the reply.

"Yep. Hi Cosette."

There was a deep breath from the other side of the phone. _"'Ponine, I really need to talk to you." _Her voice was thick, like her throat was full of syrup.

Eponine frowned. "What's going on?"

There was a snivel and an exhale. "_I just had the biggest fight with Marius. I'm not even sure if we can get back together this time."_

"What happened now?" she asked knowingly. This hadn't been the first time Cosette had called her up with relationship issues. She and Marius had been all lovey-dovey to start off with but, a few years in, they tended to fight over the stupidest things.

"_I think he slept with someone else." _

Eponine almost dropped the phone, making Enjolras look up.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she questioned disgustedly.

It took a while for Cosette to answer; Eponine was pretty sure that she had disappeared to get a tissue.

"_Well, he's been being really secretive lately and last night…last night…he came home and he had…he had lipstick on his cheek."_

Eponine fought the urge to roll her eyes. "'Sette, it's probably nothing."

"_Then why wouldn't he tell me where he'd been?" _she shouted down the phone.

"Alright, alright," muttered Eponine, "I'm only trying to help. Where are you now?"

Cosette whimpered a little. _"After the fight, I went to Musichetta's. I'm sleeping on her sofa tonight. Could you come over tomorrow morning?"_

She bit her lip. She didn't like getting involved with Cosette's And Marius' love life. It wasn't even because she used to be in love with Marius, she was just afraid of saying the wrong thing.

She shrugged to herself. "Sure, why not? I'll be over at about ten, then. It'll be okay, 'Sette. See you tomorrow."

Cosette said a faint thank you and good bye then put the phone down. Eponine puffed her cheeks out and massaged her forehead.

"Cosette and Marius fall out again?" asked Enjolras sympathetically, rubbing her shoulders.

She nodded and turned to face him.

"Where were we?"

He kissed her again as she undid a few more buttons of his shirt. He was about to lift her back up onto his hips when…

"Mama!" came a shout from Léon's closed bedroom door.

Enjolras rested his head on her shoulder. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Oh the joys of being a grown-up," she mumbled, "Sorry, babe, there's no time for sex anymore. The moment's gone."

He groaned and wandered off to their bedroom, making her laugh and leaving her to look after Léon.

"You bad parent!" she yelled after him good-naturedly, slowly opening the door to her son's bedroom.

She saw Léon lying curled up in his bed, his quilt wrapped up tightly around him. His eyes were wide open.

"What's the matter, ma chérie?" she asked, quickly sitting on the side of his bed and brushing his curly hair from his forehead. Her eyes were frantic when he didn't reply.

"Come on, what happened?"

The little boy frowned and bit his lip like he was working out an equation.

"Nightmare."

She nodded and kissed his temple.

"It was just a dream, ma petit, do you want me to stay?"

He shook his head and smiled a tiny smile. "No, mama, I'm a brave boy. I just needed to know that it wasn't real."

"Okay. Night night. I love you."

"I love you, mama." His eyes had already closed. She turned off the light and left.

Enjolras was already in bed when she got to their room. He had his glasses on, reading a book. She smiled at how familiar this was, going to bed to find her boyfriend so engrossed in a story that he didn't notice her getting changed. He did this time, though. She took her shirt and jeans off, leaving her in her underwear.

"Yep, I know I'm sexy, but any particular reason why you're looking at me like that?" she questioned, an eyebrow raised.

He put his book down and held out an arm for her to snuggle into. After putting on one of his T-shirts, she lay down by his side and tucked her head under his chin.

"I'm just thinking that I'm lucky to have you. I love you, you know?" he whispered.

"I know. Love you too."

He smiled and took his glasses off, leaning over her to switch off the light.

"It appears that the Ice King has melted," she teased. He shook his head and settled down into the pillow.

"You're going to have hell to pay for that in the morning."

"Oh I look forward to it."

**Was that fluffy enough? I tried. I swear to God, I have a plot; it'll just take a couple more chapters to get everything in place. And I'm sorry about the swearing, I'll try to refrain from using it too much in future, but I needed it to start off with Eponine swearing so they could talk about what they want Léon to grow up to be ect. Review, if you please, your reviews keep me writing. Thanks for reading. **


	3. Just Dandy With Brandy

**Warning: A couple of sensitive subjects and some sex references.**

**Hi there, my lovelies. Thank you to **_**phangirl2017**_**, **_**Darci the Thespian **_**and **_**OnginalMaz**_** for reviewing my last chapter and to anyone who has favourited or followed. I've had some thoughts on the relationships in my story…**

**I realize that Enjolras would normally be very serious and dedicated but I think that since being with Eponine, he has loosened up a bit. I'm not going to make him completely abandon his morals but he is definitely more care-free because of her. Eponine is twenty-three at this point and Enjolras is twenty-five so they had Léon when Eponine was twenty, having been together two years previously since she was eighteen. I think, as they are so young, that they are a bit under-prepared in parenting so be prepared for a couple of mistakes on their part. Eponine is more experienced in looking after the child because she has looked after her siblings but Enjolras is more careful around Léon because he afraid of doing the wrong thing and of having the same lack of paternalistic qualities as his father. Their parenting dynamics, however, balance each other out.**

**I thought that, because this story is set after the initial canon story-line, that Cosette and Marius' relationship might have changed. In the first days of their relationship, as depicted in canon, they are consumed with the excitement and romanticism of love at first sight but, as their relationship got older, I thought that the passion they had in the early days might have dwindled out a bit. Don't get me wrong, they still love each other in this story but their relationship, as based on love at first sight as it is, isn't very healthy in the long run. They were so caught up in the infatuation when they were younger that they decided to commit to a relationship that they weren't even sure about; they let their hearts rule their heads. They fight over stupid things in this story but they stick together because the feeling they had all those years ago must have been strong enough and important enough for it to rule their hearts. This is just my opinion, you have absolute permission to yell at me in a review if it doesn't sound right, but it makes sense in my head. My head is a worrying place, though; I don't think anything makes sense in there.**

**Sorry, that wasn't even remotely important. I'll shut up now. Enjoy the chapter. Xxx**

3. Just Dandy With Brandy

She woke up early, her internal body clock telling her that she couldn't have a lye-in. Her arms had wound themselves around Enjolras' waist in the night and his chin was resting on the top of her head. She moaned appreciatively at the beautiful morning outside her window and muttered several curses under her breath at the fact that she had to get up. Sighing, she snaked out of Enjolras' arms and sat up in bed to stretch.

"You're not getting up are you?" came a sleepy murmur from beside her. He hadn't opened his eyes but had an amusingly disgruntled look on his face.

"Yep, sorry," Eponine replied, leaning down to kiss his forehead. He shook his head, made the noise he made when he didn't get his own way and, still with his eyes closed, pulled her back down into bed. She chuckled quietly and obliged, letting him kiss her.

"I thought you said I was going to have hell to pay this morning?" she laughed when they broke apart.

He opened his eyes and narrowed them; a smirk on his face.

"I don't remember that."

She smiled and got up; ruffling his hair because she knew it annoyed him. As she expected, he scowled and rose with her, wincing a little at the sunlight pouring through the window.

"You know," she started, slipping off the T-shirt she slept in, "Surprisingly enough, I'm not actually looking forward to listening to Cosette's love problems."

He shrugged and pulled off his own shirt, "You did agree to it."

She strode over to him and thwacked the back of his head then picked out her favourite jeans from her wardrobe, along with a vest top and a black see-through blouse that Musichetta had forced her into buying. She tugged on the vest top.

"You promise that you'll look after Léon _well _today? I mean, I know it's the summer holidays and you have college work to keep you busy with but at least pay attention to him."

Enjolras huffed, "I'm not a complete imbecile. The boy's my own flesh and blood, I'm not going to leave him to fend for himself."

"Against what exactly?" she countered, pulling on the blouse and admiring herself in the mirror a little.

"I don't know," he mused, "My cooking?"

She smiled. "Well, I think Musichetta's going to be a bit busy with Cosette today so you can't call on her to feed him. Maybe you should use today to learn how to cook?"

He changed into a slogan T-shirt and pair of black jeans before scoffing at her ridiculous idea. "Yes, because that's really going to happen. I'll just take him to the Musain today."

She nodded and forced a brush through her hair while he pulled on his favourite red jacket.

"Okay, well, make sure Grantaire's alcohol gets nowhere near him."

He chuckled. "The Musain opens early on a Saturday, right?"

"Yeah, it does," she said, "But not for another fifteen minutes."

"Well, it'll take me that long to get there and we need to get Léon up, which could take the rest of our lives."

She didn't have time to answer before he had stalked off purposefully to their son's room, making her smile a little bit.

While her face looked composed as she coated her eyelashes with as little mascara as possibly (but just enough to make Musichetta happy), she was starting to panic about Cosette. Her relationship with Marius had kept going downhill with every year, Eponine wasn't quite sure why they stayed together, but there were those good days when she was around them and she felt in the true presence of love so deep that it was worth fighting through all the bad days just to get to the good ones. It hadn't been like that with her and Enjolras. They didn't base themselves on having fallen in love at first sight because that wasn't how it happened at all. She was quite sure that they had hated each other in the first place, especially when he picked her up on her love for Marius, in a rather untactful way, she might add. Ah, but then came the party at Grantaire's and the music and the _tequila. _Of course, once positively wasted, she had danced very provocatively with most men in the room, including Enjolras who was drunk as well, much against his wishes. Then came the inebriated one night stand which then led to a two night stand when they repeated their activities quite soberly the next evening.

They probably should have just left it at that but something clicked in both their brains, a sense that those two nights must have meant something. Yes, they had to go through an unlawful amount of teasing from Grantaire and, of course, they had their fights but what they had just worked. Everyone knew they were meant to be together when it happened, even Grantaire felt a little lighter whenever he saw them hand-in-hand. Cosette thought that it was because they were soul-mates, that no two people who were as different to each other as those two could get together unless the universe wanted them to fall in love. Eponine and Enjolras didn't have faith in soul-mates but they knew that the relationship they had was as close as being soul-mates as they liked to believe in. It was love but it took them a while to realize it.

There were two break-ups before Léon was born. Now she thought about it, the reasons for those break-ups should have stayed between the two of them, but at the time the fights had broken the entire group of friends apart. The first one was eleven months after they had started dating seriously when Eponine was working three jobs to pay her rent and Enjolras had complained about never seeing her. The argument had escalated far too quickly and led to them not seeing each other for a week until Enjolras suggested that they move in together to make the rent easier to pay. At first she had thought that it was far too fast and pitying but, to be honest, it hadn't taken her much convincing. She hated fighting with him.

The second break-up was much worse. Eponine had find out that she was pregnant with Léon. She was so young, she cried every day because she knew that they wouldn't be able to afford another mouth to feed, not since Enjolras had been cut off from his family. The only solution to her was to have an abortion. Enjolras was disgusted, and, for the first time in his life, he couldn't bare to look at her. She just couldn't think of bringing a child into her life; she wanted to protect the baby from the harshness of the world even if it meant getting rid of it. She had gone to get a sonogram a few months in. Enjolras had joined her but didn't hold her hand. When she heard the baby's heartbeat and seen its picture; that was it. She couldn't get rid of it. She was already in complete adoration for the tiny thing in her stomach and having an abortion never crossed her mind again. Enjolras warmed more to her when she told him her decision but it took him a couple of weeks to trust her to not hurt him again.

They rarely fought anymore. They had arguments about trivial things but nothing enough to break-up the family they had put together. They were as good as married.

Eponine looked at her ring-less ring finger and sighed. Okay, maybe they acted like they were married but they weren't and Eponine resented that a little. Maybe, she needed to talk to Enjolras about it, maybe he didn't no how she felt. Maybe he thought that they were 'as good as married' too so he thought there was no point in proposing.

She huffed and shook her head, distracting herself with applying a small amount of lip gloss. Musichetta had drummed into her that she should never leave the house without lip gloss. Eponine had laughed until Musichetta back-handed her and threatened to burn her Harry Potter DVDs. Oh yes, Eponine is a massive Harry Potter fan

She looked at the time. 8:50.

"Honey," she shouted as she walked from her bedroom and into the living room, "The café is going to open in ten minutes, is Léon ready yet?"

Eponine was answered when a groggy looking Léon wandered out of his room only to slump against the sofa and close his eyes. She laughed and kissed his forehead.

"Do you want to stay here and have to eat Papa's cooking or do you want to go to the Café for breakfast?"

That woke him up. He was suddenly comically dragging Enjolras out the door before he had done his laces up.

"Okay, I'm going!" he chuckled. He kissed Eponine's cheek "I'll see you later, Have fun with Cosette!"

She smiled glumly and waved them goodbye.

* * *

After watching a few of episodes of Friends, Eponine decided it was time to make her way to Musichetta's home a few houses down. She envied her friend's house just because it was a real house instead of a flat like she had. She was now standing, impatiently, in front of the beautiful home, and ringing the doorbell, jealous of the lovely sound it made. A shout came from inside the house, then a groan and finally some footsteps before the door opened. Eponine frowned at the person who answered.

"Joly? What are you doing here?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes.

Joly smiled weakly and blushed. "I…er…I came 'round to…have breakfast with Musichetta…"

Eponine smirked, eyeing his inside-out shirt, his messy hair and his unbelted trousers that he was holding up with one hand. "Aah, 'breakfast' that's what you call it," she giggled then gasped, "And with Cosette in the next room. I am ashamed!"

His blush deepened but he motioned for her to come in.

She made her way down the hallway then took a left into the living room. Cosette was curled up on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. She was still asleep. The top of the stairs creaked and Musichetta crept down, still knotting the tie of her light dressing gown. She had a belt in her hands.

"Oh, hi 'Ponine," she said. Eponine waved, still looking smug.

She rocked back on her heels. "So what have you two been up to, then?" she asked, the smile on her face unstoppable.

Musichetta pouted and raised her eyebrow. "'Ponine, I will kill you."

"I just can't believe you would have 'breakfast' when there's a particularly upset young lady in the same house," she sighed, shaking her head with a deadpan expression.

"Right, Joly, get out before she says anymore things," exclaimed Musichetta, passing Joly the belt.

He smiled lovingly. "I'll see you at the Musain."

"Okay."

He kissed her quickly, although it looked like it would have progressed to more than that if Eponine wasn't there tapping her foot, and left, still doing up his belt.

Musichetta scowled as soon as he was gone and flicked Eponine in the head.

"Thanks for that, Eponine."

"No problem. Cosette did ask me to come around so you shouldn't have started having 'breakfast' if you knew I was going to be here."

Musichetta sneered playfully. "We do need to have some serious girl talk. I'm actually worried about Cosette this time."

Eponine nodded sadly, any cheerfulness in the atmosphere suddenly dissipating. Behind them, Cosette stirred.

"'Chetta?" she mumbled.

"Right here, babe. How're you feeling?" she asked sympathetically. Eponine and Musichetta sat either side of Cosette as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not too great," she muttered. Her blonde hair was all tangled but she had pulled it back into the pony tail she was now fiddling with. Her eyes were red and her normally perfect make-up was dried down her face where the tears were the night before. She wasn't crying anymore, though. Eponine found some hope in that.

"Right, we need to sort this out. Start from the beginning," urged Eponine.

Cosette took a deep breath and swallowed. She was in desperate need of caffeine.

"Do you think I can have a coffee?" she asked quietly.

Musichetta smiled and went to the kitchen.

"Go on, 'Sette. It can't be that bad," tried Eponine.

Cosette wearily acknowledged Eponine's optimism but didn't smile.

Musichetta returned with a mug of strong-coffee (she had tipped a bit of brandy into the cup to try to cheer Cosette up through alcohol). Cosette nodded her thanks and held the mug tightly, warming her hands.

Eponine rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. She was getting a little frustrated, though. Cosette needed to talk about it and, even though Eponine wasn't great at being patient with people, she had walked all the way down to her to help her out.

"Come on, Cosette. Talking helps! I bet lack of communication was what made you and Marius drift apart," she said, her voice a little grittier and a little less sympathetic. Cosette looked at her, hurt. Musichetta sent a sardonic smile towards Eponine.

"Great tact, 'Ponine," she hissed.

Eponine winced at her own cruel words. "Sorry, darlin', I…I just..er…had a rough morning," she lied.

"Oh, I'm sure it was terrible," Cosette sniffed sarcastically, "Waking up to a boyfriend who loves you and kisses you sounds absolutely dreadful."

"I'm sorry, Cosette, but you need to talk to us about it. Tell us the whole story."

She looked up at Eponine, thankfully this time. "Don't you need to get home to Léon?"

"No, Enjolras has taking him to the Musain for breakfast," she replied smiling fondly.

Cosette turned to Musichetta. "What about you? You don't have anywhere to be?"

Musichetta shook her head. "Nope, we're all yours."

Cosette smiled.

"Okay," she gulped, "I guess it started on Monday. Marius went out for the morning without telling me. I hadn't even woken up when he left."

Eponine waited while her friend composed herself. There were tears in her big blue eyes.

"And then again on Tuesday," she cried, "He was really nice to me all week then he disappeared again yesterday when he came home with lipstick on his cheek!" She had her head in her hands, sobbing by that point. Eponine hugged her shoulders.

"How could he do this to me?" she wailed, "I mean, I know we haven't been all that happy recently but I didn't think he'd go this _far._"

Musichetta frowned. "I know you're upset, babe, but aren't you jumping to conclusions? This doesn't sound like Marius."

Cosette looked up, her cheeks covered in salt water. "Well, where do you think he's been going? A ski club?" she muttered bitterly.

Musichetta held her hands up in surrender. "All I'm saying is that, don't condemn Marius just yet. He might not have cheated on you."

Cosette sighed miserably. "I just don't know how to explain all this."

"We'll figure it out. Do you want me to ask him?" asked Eponine, massaging her own frowning forehead.

The blonde shrugged. "You can try."

It was sad, really. Cosette and Marius had fought so many times and had been together so long. They always pulled through. Eponine wouldn't be able to handle them breaking up forever. She knew that was selfish of her but Musichetta was thinking the same.

"Cosette, you'll get through this," said Eponine adamantly, "You and Marius are meant to be together, this is just a rough patch."

"More like a rough year," Cosette huffed.

Eponine smiled. "Do you remember when me and Enjolras broke up?"

"Which time?"

"The first time!" she retorted, annoyed. She shook the irritation off to prove her point. "Anyway, that was really hard and I didn't think we would ever get back together. We worked it out. We broke up a second time; I didn't think we would ever get back together. We worked it out. Now, I'm happy for once with a beautiful son and a loving boyfriend."

"Are you bragging?" Cosette asked, eyebrow raised.

"No! I'm just telling you that if we can work through two break-ups and end up having a child then you can get through this and be happy! Don't let Marius slip through your fingers! You _deserve _to be happy, darlin'. Don't you _ever_ think otherwise."

Cosette wrapped her arms around Eponine and smiled a little.

"Thank you, 'Ponine. What would I do without you guys?"

Musichetta grinned. "I don't actually know." She got up and walked to the kitchen.

Eponine stood up and started pacing around the coffee table. "So the plan is to not jump to conclusions and to question Marius to within an inch of his life. If he has cheated on you then we'll kick his arse and we can guarantee that the boys will help."

Cosette laughed through her tears and took another sip of coffee.

"Me and Musichetta are going to the Musain today," Eponine started, "Do you want to come?"

Cosette shook her head. "Marius will be there."

"Aah, yes he will be," the brown-haired girl said sinisterly, "Let the ass-kicking commence."

"Nope. Uh-uh, God, no!" shouted Musichetta from the kitchen. Both of the other girls looked towards her incredulously.

"I can't believe this!" she continued, her voice still alarmingly loud.

"What is it, 'Chetta?"

Musichetta skidded back into the living room with a bottle in her hand. "I used up the last of my brandy in your coffee!"

Cosette spat the said coffee back into her mug. "You put brandy in my coffee?! That's why it tastes weird?!"

Musichetta was looking wistfully at the bottle, ignoring Cosette as she gaped.

Eponine was frowning. "Musichetta, you only got that bottle yesterday when we went shopping. How did you get through it that fast?"

Musichetta shrugged, "Well, I put like a half-an-inch of it in Cosette's coffee and me and Joly used the rest of it last night -."

"I don't even want to know!" yelled Eponine. Musichetta shrugged again and bounded up the stairs to get dressed.

"Cosette, I don't want to leave you on your own," Eponine whispered.

Cosette smiled bravely. "It's fine. It'll give me some time to stop getting mental images of what 'Chetta was doing with Joly last night."

Eponine grinned but stopped immediately when she started getting mental images. She grimaced.

Musichetta came running back down the stairs.

"That was quick," stated Eponine, a little surprised. It would normally take Musichetta hours to get ready.

"Meh. I knew what I wanted to wear."

Eponine nodded, wearing a smirk again. "You're eager to see Joly, aren't you?"

"Yeah so what?"

All the girls laughed.

Musichetta slipped her coat on while Eponine kissed Cosette's cheek.

"You're sure you'll be okay?" she asked.

"I'll be fine."

Eponine smiled and walked with Musichetta down the hall to the front door.

"Cosette," shouted Musichetta from the front door, "I've left a key in the kitchen, have any food you want, please drink some alcohol and don't steal anything!"

They heard Cosette laugh weakly in reply and left for the Musain.

"I told Enjolras that he better be careful with Léon today or I may have to hurt his books," said Eponine halfway down the street.

Musichetta laughed. "How are things with Enjolras?"

Eponine smiled, "Good. I still love him so things _must_ be going well."

"Has he proposed to you yet?" Musichetta asked hopefully.

Eponine shook her head. "No. Don't you think I would've told you?"

"Are you kidding me? You have been with the guy for five years _and_ you've had a kid with him, what is he waiting for?"

"I don't know. I'm not going to pressure him, though. I mean, what could getting married really do to progress the relationship any further than it is now?"

Musichetta looked at her like she had just spouted fluent Mandarin. "Are you kidding me? You would get to have a wedding. You would get gifts. You would get a pretty white dress. What is wrong with you?"

Eponine laughed. "I thought that marriage means that you don't get to have sex anymore?"

"No, that's what's supposed to happen when you have kids but you already did that and you still have sex."

Eponine raised her eyebrows at her. "What the hell? Why would you even know that?"

The other chuckled. "Okay, firstly, you know that I'm sleeping with Joly so I deserve to know a little about your sex life and, secondly, the grin on Enjolras' face some mornings means that he totally got it on the night before. That, my friend, is the 'I-Had-Sex-Last-Night-And-You-Didn't Grin. Well, he obviously can't use that grin on me because I _did _have sex last night but the point still stands."

"Okay," said Eponine, a little bewildered, "Now that you've undermined me with your knowledge of The Grin, I get to tell everyone that you're sleeping with Joly."

She narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

Eponine was about to laugh light-heartedly and tell her that she didn't mean it but someone came sprinting down the street, pushing them out his way as he went past.

"Careful!" shouted both girls. The man looked around to apologise then immediately knew he shouldn't have. The girls eyes widened.

"Marius?" exclaimed Musichetta. It was indeed him, his brown eyes a little red like he had been crying.

Eponine was past the shock though and was scowling. She knew that she had said she would give him the benefit of the doubt but…

"Okay, Marius, get ready for the ass-kicking of a life time," she said menacingly, flexing her fingers.

**There we go, an extra long chapter to make up for an extra long AN. Thanks for reading and please review. **


	4. Gloomy Drunk

**Hello, my darlings, how are you today?**

**Well, I'm quite pleased with myself because I've planned up to chapter seventeen and that's not even the end of the story so it's going to go on for a while! Thank you to **_**T-W-S264, OnginalMaz, **_**Guest and **_**Sirens in the water **_**for reviewing my last chapter, I really appreciate it, and to anyone who favourited or followed. Thank you! Enjoy the chapter, it's another long one.**

4. Gloomy Drunk

"I – I – why?" stuttered Marius, looking as if he was about to spring away from Eponine like she was the plague. Musichetta stood shaking her head disappointedly.

"How could you do this to Cosette?!" she cried, taking a step forwards. Marius' eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.

"No, I promise, I - whatever Cosette has told you isn't the whole story, I swear!" he yelled.

Eponine frowned. "Then, pray tell, what has gone on between you and Cosette because from what she _has_ told me it sounds an awful lot like you've cheated on her."

Marius blinked and looked up at the sky like he was hoping a lightening bolt was going strike him down. "I promise you, I haven't been cheating on her. I wouldn't do that! I know that things haven't been perfect between us but I would never even consider it. You're just going to have to trust me and tell Cosette that I'll explain everything in time."

"In time?!" shouted Musichetta, "In time?! You have made our best friend cry her eyes out and you want _us _to tell her that _you _will explain why you apparently _haven't _been cheating on her _in time_?!"

Marius flinched and raised his hands as if to calm her down. "I just need another day just to sort things out then I promise, I will talk to her."

Eponine narrowed her eyes. "You better have a good explanation for all this or you will have to have your ass kicked like we talked about," she warned, crossing her arms.

The poor boy sighed. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry but you'll just have to trust me."

It was really quite comical how both of the girl's expressions mirrored each other exactly as the look in their eyes fell into pure glares of death.

"You tell us what you're up to right now, Marius Pontmercy, or I will kick you so hard in the groin that will no longer have working reproductive organs," threatened Musichetta while Eponine nodded menacingly.

Marius took slow steps back, gulping. "I'm sorry. Everything will be fine, just let me handle it."

Eponine was so close to raising her fist to his face before he turned on his heel and sprinted down the lane, looking at his watch as he ran like the White Rabbit. Musichetta checked to see if he was going towards her house but he thankfully turned the other way. She doubted that Cosette needed a confrontation.

"What is he up to?" mumbled Eponine, nudging Musichetta's shoulder to get her walking with her again.

"I've got no idea," she replied, "It better be good though."

Eponine nodded and sighed, "I hope it's enough to get them back together."

To this, Musichetta had no retort because she was thinking exactly the same thing.

After a while of walking in comfortable silence they arrived absent-mindedly at the Café Musain, swerving through the doorway smoothly and towards their friends. They smiled at the familiar scene. Not all of Les Amis were there, of course Marius was elsewhere and neither Feuilly or Bahorel were present. She looked towards Jean Prouvaire's usual table where he would sit with ink on his face and a pen in his hand but he wasn't there either. Combeferre, Joly and Courfeyrac were practicing playing poker on the window table next to the entrance. Grantaire was face-down on the middle table with a can of his favourite beer that was being kindly overlooked by the barista whose café rules normally included a 'no alcohol' regulation.

Enjolras got up from his seat where he and Bossuet were entertaining Léon and, interrupting her train of thought, greeted her with a kiss. She grinned against his lips and laughed for getting such a welcome.

"Good morning. How was breakfast?" she asked, snaking her arm around his waist as they made their way back to the table. She received 'hellos' from all present except Grantaire who looked like he'd rather be sleeping.

"Fine. Léon appreciated it greatly," he chuckled as Eponine scooped up her son from the tabletop and balanced him on her hip, "How was Cosette?"

Eponine and Musichetta huffed in unison. "She's really upset."

"I can't believe Marius would cheat on her," mumbled Grantaire from his place on the table, "I mean, 'Sette's hot, I wouldn't even cheat on her and I'm me."

Eponine looked at him in disgust then took a double take. "Wait, we don't know if Marius cheated on her yet."

"Have you talked to him?" asked Joly, looking up from the card game.

"Yeah, we ran into him on our way here but he wouldn't tell us anything. He was pretty adamant about the fact that he didn't cheat on her, though."

"Guys," announced Musichetta, "I don't think Marius or Cosette would appreciate us gossiping about their relationship anymore than we'd appreciate them talking about ours."

"True," began Courfeyrac, "But what would they have to gossip about?"

The boys murmured in agreement but Courfeyrac still saw the need to continue.

"We can no longer talk about Enjolras' lack of relationships like we did when we were teenagers because Eponine came along and ruined that."

"Hey!" the woman in question shouted indignantly as she sat Léon on the table again.

"And none of the rest of us has anything to speak of," he continued. Joly and Musichetta blushed and turned away. It appeared that the only person in the room who knew of their relationship was Eponine.

Grantaire raised his hand without lifting his head. "I disagree," he grumbled.

Everyone turned to look at him as he finally sat up to drink his beer. He looked terrible. He obviously hadn't shaved or slept, his eyes looked like they were ready to close and he had shadows under them that seemed to weigh him down.

"Jesus, Grantaire, what's wrong?" asked Combeferre, "I haven't seen you this bad since Lorette dumped you last month."

Grantaire raised an eyebrow. "Way to cheer me up, man."

"Sorry."

Eponine slid into the chair next to him and put an arm around Grantaire. "Don't listen to boys. Girls are the best at this sort of thing," she promised, "What's happened, darlin'?" He remained silent.

Musichetta sat in the chair the other side of him and patted his back. "Babe, there's no way this is going to get better if you don't tell us."

"Weren't we doing this exact same thing with Cosette just a minute ago?" said Eponine, frowning.

Musichetta shrugged. "'Ponine, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens several more times today. We seem to be the go-to comfort girls of the group."

The other girl shrugged and went back to trying to coax the truth out of everyone's favourite alcoholic.

"It's Lorette, like Combeferre said," he admitted woefully.

"That bitch. What did she do now?" asked Eponine accusingly.

Enjolras swallowed and raised his eyebrows. "Language, Ep."

"Oh God, I'm sorry!" she frantically said to Léon who didn't appear to have heard as he was desperately trying to pull the buttons off Bossuet's coat.

Grantaire ignored the exchange and looked sadly into the bottom of his empty beer can

"I saw her in a supermarket. She was just shopping –"

"That's usually what one does in a supermarket," muttered Enjolras. Eponine thwacked his leg and reached up to cover his mouth with her spare hand while still sitting.

"I never realised how much I missed her until I saw her again," he continued, "I got quite angry actually. I considered throwing the bag of barley I had just bought at her."

Enjolras tugged Eponine's hand away from his mouth.

"You bought some barley?" he asked incredulously.

Eponine looked up at him, unimpressed.

"Will you shut up?"

"Yep."

Courfeyrac laughed loudly, "Man, she has got you _whipped_! I bet you iron clothes regularly as well."

"I wish," Eponine moaned.

"Hey, at least I wash up after dinner!" said Enjolras proudly.

Eponine looked confused for a second. "No you don't."

Enjolras frowned then grinned. "Yeah, that didn't sound like me."

This at least brought a smile to Grantaire's face. It was subdued, cloudy and barely past a short-lived smirk but it was there. Banter between his two favourite people never failed to make him happy, even if it was only shown through a slight upturn of his lips.

"What do you think I should do?" he asked glumly, "This is not like me and I like the normal me so I want to be unlike this me and like the normal me as soon as possible."

Eponine frowned. "I'm sure you're aware that that didn't make any sense."

He nodded glumly. "Now I don't even make sense!" he groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"Grantaire, you never made sense in the first place," quipped Enjolras.

"Seriously I am this close to gagging you," cautioned Eponine dangerously, "And Courfeyrac, if you turn that into something dirty, I'll gag you too."

"I'd quite enjoy that," mused Courfeyrac appreciatively.

Enjolras glared at him. "Not cool, 'Fey, not cool."

Courfeyrac swallowed and side-stepped away.

"Guys?!" whined Grantaire, "I still need help over here!"

Eponine switched her sympathetic face back on which promptly lit up as she had a rather obvious idea.

She started speaking then thought better of it and went to cover Léon's ears.

"Maybe you should get with a girl for a one night stand or something. I mean no offense but you are good at non-committal relationships. I think Lorette was, like, your first one."

Grantaire shook his head. "Not going to happen. The last one night stand that I know happened was when you two got it on and look how that turned out," he explained, motioning between Enjolras and Eponine then pointing at the non-the-wiser Léon.

Enjolras flicked Grantaire's head.

"That's probably because they're better at commitment than you are, sweetie," said Musichetta.

Grantaire sighed again.

Courfeyrac got up from his poker game. "Well we'll just have to cheer you up," he said, "Let's have a party."

There was a moment of silence before Combeferre took a sip from his latte.

"That would be great, 'Fey," he said, "But…we have jobs."

"And kids," finished Eponine.

Joly stood up too, rolled his eyes and began strolling around the room of his doubtful friends.

"Correction," he began, "Only two of us have only one child between them and the rest of us are on holiday and/or can get out of their jobs if they are working today."

Bossuet and Combeferre shrugged, warming to the idea.

"Come on," Joly pleaded playfully, "Alcohol and music cheer up Grantaire no end. Well, we can't drink too much alcohol in case we get liver cirrhosis and we can't have the music on too loud in case our hearing gets impaired but, still, why not?"

Eponine released Léon's ears and scoffed. "I repeat, some of us have kids."

"We could call Azelma to baby sit," Enjolras suggested.

Joly patted Enjolras' shoulder. "See? Why not have an evening off?"

By then, most of the room had agreed to the idea but Musichetta's mind was elsewhere.

"What about Cosette and Marius?" she wondered out loud, "We can hardly invite both of them but we can't invite neither of them."

"We could," Courfeyrac said, "Maybe if we get them in the same room then they will sort it all out."

Musichetta pouted at how seemingly easily her concern was dealt with. "You can try," she muttered.

Courfeyrac's face broke into a grin. "Perfect. Now all we need is a venue…"

He comically stroked his chin in pondering as if he had a beard. He snapped his fingers.

"Mathilde!"

The barista looked up from cleaning the espresso machine. "Yes, Monsieur?"

"Less of the 'Monsieur', Tildy, you know you and I are friendlier than that," flirted Courfeyrac shamelessly. He winked.

Mathilde tried to look unimpressed but her pretty face blushed. "You do realise that this is my café you're standing in and any funny business will get you kicked out."

Courfeyrac put his begging face on. "Well, my dear Tildy, I was wondering if we might use your wonderful café for a small gathering this evening? After hours, of course."

"So I would be allowing you to use my café after closing time without me being here?" she asked doubtfully.

Eponine found her time to be helpful. "Mathilde, I normally work here so I would be able to look after the café while also having a party."

It was true, Eponine worked at the café part-time for good money. Mathilde considered it. Of course Eponine would be putting her job on the line.

"You do realise that you'll have to pay for anything broken and possibly lose your job if anything goes wrong?" she said pointedly to Eponine.

"Yes, and we'll pay to rent it. I'll even throw in giving Courfeyrac a slap in the face!" she offered. Courfeyrac gaped and almost protested.

This made Mathilde smile. "Okay, you have yourself a deal. I'm not joking though!" she warned, "If anything goes wrong…"

"I'll lose my job," Eponine finished.

Mathilde nodded but was still smiling ruefully. She went back to cleaning the espresso machine.

Eponine rushed over to Courfeyrac and threw her hand over his cheek, just below his eye.

"Okay, ow!" he whined, "But I guess you did get us a venue. We're having a party in a café. How awesome are we?"

Eponine grinned and stepped back to stand next to Enjolras.

"You proud of me, 'Ras?" she whispered as the others went back into conversation. Before he answered she thought about what names she used for him. She rarely used his first name because, when she first met him, everyone called him Enjolras. She had slowly slipped into calling him nicknames as they got to know each other more during the dating period but she thought that she really ought to start calling him by his first name more often. She supposed, if they got married, then her last name would be Enjolras too and it would become a bit odd to call her husband by it. Still, they probably wouldn't be getting married any time soon.

"For slapping 'Fey in the face? Of course. For threatening your job to cheer up Grantaire? Not so much."

She nudged him with her hip. "Hey, nothing will go wrong. Besides, Mathilde knows that this job is all I've got to look after Léon and pay the rent, she'll go soft on me if anything does go distinctly pear-shaped."

"I've told you, Ep," he sighed, "I don't mind quitting college to get a job and help pay the rent."

She shook her head defiantly. "No, not happening. You love college and, besides, we're fine."

He sighed again wearily. "I suppose but I could just get a part-time job, at least just for the holiday. What do you think?"

She wrapped both arms around his waist and sneaked her head under his arm. "That sounds like a good idea."

He smiled and kissed the corner of her mouth.

"At least when you get a job there won't be a dent in the sofa where you've been sitting all day," she teased.

He laughed and pulled her face closer to his. "I hate you," he chuckled.

"I hate you too."

"There," announced Courfeyrac who had been watching the exchange, pointing at the two, "That's a healthy relationship right there!"

"Will you shut up? Eponine asked for the second time that day.

"Yep."

**Did you like it? Yeah, it was kind of a filler chapter but things will happen…at some point. I have a plan! Leave a review please, I love to hear what you think. With love, Ginger. **


	5. Sweetheart, Where's My Shades?

**Hi. I'm actually just a little overwhelmed at how nice these reviews on my last chapter have been, thank you so much to **_**OnginalMaz**_**, **_**J91,**_** (Don't worry, I'm going to try and make Enjolras a better parent as the story goes along and, you're right, his friends are definitely not a great example!), **_**phangirl2017, Amethyst3232, Sapphire Iota, Sirens in the water, preciousat **_**and **_**Fanpire101**_**, I promise I've taken all your comments to try to make my story better and all your kinds words are insanely appreciated. Thank you. And sorry for the wait, this chapter took a while. Anyway, this should be fun…**

5. You're Blinding, Sweetheart, I Gotta Wear Shades

Eponine floated out of the bedroom, newly dressed for Grantaire's party, to find Enjolras gazing concernedly at his son who was balanced on Azelma's hip.

"And you won't let him play with matches?" asked Enjolras seriously.

Azelma rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure that at some point this evening I will fling a box of matches to your son's feet willingly and wait, while evilly tapping my foot, until he manages to retrieve the lighter from the top cupboard and kindle the splint into a wild spark that soon sets the flat ablaze."

A moment of silence passed.

"You're joking, right?" tested Enjolras.

Azelma nodded wearily.

"You have a dark sense of humour," he added.

The girl smiled wickedly then turned her attention to the adorableness of the little boy she was holding, giddy with just how cute her sister's offspring was. She set him down onto the floor and he went to cling to Enjolras' leg.

"Azelma will be fine!" Eponine chided gently.

Her sister jolted a little as if subjected to a minor electric shock. "Ooh, I know!" she exclaimed, "I thought of ordering in a pizza or an Indian. I haven't had one in, like, ever. If only I had some money…"

Enjolras sighed and retrieved a twenty from his pocket. He grudgingly put it into Azelma's outstretched hand.

"Thank you, 'Ras, you're so nice," she simpered.

"Yeah yeah, well don't expect to be getting paid for this on top of that."

Eponine laughed and made her way over to Enjolras who was crouching down in front of Léon.

"You going to be good for Tante Azelma?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Léon nodded earnestly. "I won't play with matches Papa."

Enjolras chuckled. "That's my good boy," he praised, pulling the little one into to his arms to hug him.

He let him go when Eponine approached. She kissed Léon's forehead and took Enjolras' hand.

"Bye, Léon. Bye 'Zelma," she shouted over her shoulder, waving goodbye to her son.

"Bye guys, have a good time!" Azelma called as the door closed.

The two linked arms as they made their way down the stairs of their building.

"How do I look?" asked Eponine.

Enjolras stepped in front of her and stared, walking down the stairs backwards. He shielded his eyes.

"My God, you're blinding! Get me some sunglasses," he cried jokingly.

She pulled him back to her side and nudged him playfully.

"No really, you look great," he amended, "It's not like you to dress up."

She shrugged. "Well, I doubt a party will cheer Grantaire up completely but if I'm something hot to look at then he might feel better."

"I'll punch him in the face if he hits on you," warned Enjolras.

Eponine laughed. "Well, you should have punched Grantaire, like, a hundred times in the last two months."

Enjolras raised an eyebrow. "I hope you don't enjoy being hit on by anyone but me."

She shrugged. "It's flattering," she said matter-of-factly.

He shook his head in mock-shame while she looked at the watch on her wrist that had used to be Enjolras' before she adopted it.

"We're already late, you know," she muttered.

"First you're dressing up and now you're worried about being on time?" he asked incredulously, "Who are you?"

She back-handed his stomach as they passed through the lobby and out the doors.

Eponine sucked in a breath through her teeth and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Oh my God, it's freezing! It's summer, right?" she complained. Despite her biker jacket she was already shivering violently. It was evening outside so the street was distinctly grey with the slowly setting sun.

Enjolras sighed and said goodbye to the comforting warmth of his jacket as he wrapped it around the trembling girl's shoulders.

"Why, thank you, kind Monsieur," she beamed.

"Yeah, well, now I'm going to die of sudden pneumonia before we even get to the café so you better be bloody thankful."

She held her hands up in surrender but what still smiling. "Seriously, dude, if you want the jacket back then take it. Just let your girlfriend die of the pneumonia you were supposed to die of for the possession of your beloved red jacket. Why don't you let her fend for herself against Grantaire while you're at it?"

He shook his head again, having the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time he would do that, and took her hand in his.

"It'll be okay, love of my life," he said.

She blushed and grinned. "That's sweet."

He frowned. "I was talking to the jacket."

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed to the whole street, "You're actually terrible."

He winked and kissed her cheek. "Sorry, I couldn't resist wiping the grin off your face."

Eponine rolled her eyes and was about to push him off the pavement but her line of sight was drawn to the yellow glow of the jewellery shop from across the road. The windows were glass from floor to ceiling so Eponine used to look into it at all the sparkling necklaces when she was little and on the streets. She closed her eyes, remembering how much joy it had given her, imagining that just some of those glittering facets could have been casting rainbows on the skin of her collarbone as she put a diamond necklace around her neck. She breathed out appreciatively.

"I might get you something from there, you know," whispered Enjolras, breaking her reverie, "When we get enough money."

"I'd like that," she smiled.

He went to kiss her under the streetlamp like he had seen people do in the movies.

"But don't get me anything tacky, though," mused Eponine before he could make contact with her lips, "I _hate _tacky."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

She laughed and looked towards the jewellery shop again. A frown appeared on her face.

"Isn't that Marius?" she asked, pointing to a freckly and rosy-cheeked man edging out of the glowing store.

Enjolras squinted. "Yep, that's him."

"What's he doing in a jewellery shop?" she questioned, her voice already getting angry and suspicious.

Enjolras noticed the warning tone in her voice and grabbed her forearms to stop her from running over to Marius and scalping him.

"Look, he's probably just buying something for Cosette to say sorry for the fight."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't think he's cheating on her?"

"Of course not! This is Marius. You remember, the guy we all wanted to straitjacket before he said anything else loving about Cosette?" he said slowly.

She scowled. "But he tried buying her jewellery to say sorry last time they had a fight. About the rent, I think it was. She just got madder at him for spending too much money. I don't think he'd try that again," she explained. She then narrowed her eyes and turned her head back to Marius with panic-making speculation on her face, "Unless…"

She jumped about three foot in the air and pointed accusingly at Marius, bouncing a couple of times.

"He's buying something for his other woman!"

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "No he's not. Stop jumping to conclusions. I thought you said that you _wouldn't _jump to conclusions."

"Of course he is. He's not that stupid to try buying Cosette jewellery to win back her affections after what happened last time! Whatever he is buying in there is for that bitch he's sleeping with!"

Enjolras started dragging her away. "Look," he began in a calm voice, "we don't know if he's cheating on her. We don't know if he bought some jewellery for someone else. And we're even later than now than we were anyway. So shush and don't you dare tell Cosette about any of your mad theories."

Eponine grudgingly nodded and sulked the rest of the way to the café, much to Enjolras' amusement.

* * *

"Hi, sorry we're late, Eponine was moody," announced Enjolras as they entered he café.

Grantaire smiled. "That sounds like her," he said, "And thank you, Ep, for looking hot tonight. I assume that was for my benefit?"

'Hot Eponine' cocked her head at Enjolras and smiled smugly. "See?"

There was a rustle from behind the counter and Mathilde popped up, looking flustered.

"Ah, there you are, Eponine! I've had to stay here enduring Courfeyrac until you got here," she babbled.

Eponine winced, "Sorry. I'll put him on his leash next time."

Mathilde giggled, it appeared that she had rather enjoyed 'enduring' Courfeyrac, and hopped over the counter.

She rushed towards Eponine and patted her shoulder.

"You remember our terms of agreement?"

"Yes," replied Eponine, "My ass is kicked if anything goes wrong."

Mathilde nodded and tossed her the keys, calling as she ran out the door, "Good luck! If you hurt my café, I'll kill you!"

Eponine shook her head and went to sit next to Grantaire and Joly.

Musichetta strolled over to her and swallowed. "Cosette couldn't make it."

Eponine nodded and considered telling her about Marius but she received a glare from Enjolras. Maybe it was best to stay quiet.

"Oh, Eponine, we've got a surprise for you!" cooed Courfeyrac creepily.

She shuddered, "Okay, now I'm scared."

There was another flurry of movement from behind the counter and a mop-haired young boy skidded in front of Eponine. He then jumped on the table and did jazz-hands.

"Gav!" screamed Eponine. All of the boys (and Musichetta) winced at the sheer decibel.

Gavroche leapt off the table and into Eponine's arms. She grunted slightly at the weight of the thirteen year old but couldn't keep the grin off her face.

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted in his ear.

Gavroche whined as she kissed his cheeks, getting lipstick on him.

"My parents said that I could come if I texted them every ten minutes with a picture of where I am and that I come home before twelve," he mumbled, not wanting to sound too molly-coddled by his new adopted family. Eponine barely heard him as she was doing a happy-dance at the presence of her baby brother. She rarely saw him because his parents weren't overly fond of her but she was a legal adult so there was no problem with looking after him. He had obviously brought them round to the idea of Eponine.

Gavroche smiled ruefully at his sister, looking wise beyond his years and promptly tackled Enjolras in a hug who then swung him around much like he did with his son.

"Where's the small one? I haven't seen him for ages," mused Gavroche.

"He's at home with 'Zelm," replied Eponine.

"Can I see him?"

Eponine frowned. "Would your parents let you?"

"Nope."

"Then no."

"But 'Ponine –" he started before Courfeyrac swooped in, handing a bottle to both Eponine and Enjolras.

"Guys," he began, "The purpose of this party is to drink and listen to awesome music, not to have family fights. We are going to have to do bad air guitar and dance terribly. I have bought a playlist of Grantaire's favourite songs. Let the rocking out begin!"

The group cheered and raised their bottles (Gavroche raised his bottle of Pepsi).

Combeferre stood next to Grantaire and put an arm around him.

"I also bought a video camera to record this beautiful party so, whenever Grantaire is pissed or sad or suicidal, then he can watch the amazingness that is us and realize that we are the best goddamn thing that ever happened to him," announced Combeferre.

There was another cheer and Courfeyrac went to his laptop.

"Are you guys ready for the best playlist of all time?

Everyone whooped then Courfeyrac hit play on his laptop.

_SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOU'RE TO BLAME. YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!_

Celebration filled the room as the music got everyone _psyched_.

"It's on now!" applauded Musichetta.

Combeferre started recording the scene, laughing as Eponine pulled Enjolras and Gavroche to perform terrifyingly bad air guitar as Courfeyrac had said they should. Combeferre laughed at the pure comedy gold of that moment.

This was going to be a fun night.

The party had died down a little after a few hours; everyone was a bit tired so Combeferre had started just recording the banter that went on between the friends. No-one could lie, Courfeyrac had made the best playlist in the world. He had numerous Bon Jovi songs on there, some LMFAO, a few minutes of Gangnam Style which had been hilarious and to top it off, some Michael Buble. It had been quite surprising to discover that Michael was one of Grantaire's favourites but no-one was in the mood to tease him.

Eponine was on edge because Bahorel had broken the espresso machine but was halfway through fixing it so she held back from taking violent action. She looked at her watch then turned to Gavroche who was chatting animatedly to the camera.

"Gavroche, you'll need to get back to your house soon, it's quarter to twelve," she ordered gently.

"I'm almost done," he said, turning back to Combeferre and the lens.

When he finished he nodded, satisfied, and grabbed his coat with a grimace on his face.

"Can't I just stay for one more song?" he moaned. Eponine was about to chide him but didn't really have the heart for it.

"Sure," she smiled, "Courfeyrac, play another song!"

The man-slut grinned and looked at the next song on his playlist. He climbed onto the table and held his bottle like a microphone.

"The last song for tonight, folks, is Grantaire's very own personal favourite," he announced in an American accent, putting emphasise on the words, "It is called Wonderwall by Oasis."

Eponine cocked her head. "Really, Grantaire? Oasis?"

The man in question raised his head drunkenly, his ear resting on his shoulder.

"It's a good song, 'kay?"

She smiled and pulled Enjolras from the seat next to her.

"Come on, you're dancing with me," she said.

He grunted but obliged, too tired to argue, and slow-danced with her. It would have been a romantic moment if Courfeyrac and Bahorel (who had fixed the espresso machine) hadn't started mockingly dancing with each other.

_Today is gonna be the day that they're gona throw it back to you_

_By now you shoulda somehow realised what you gotta do_

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now._

"You love me more than your jacket, right?" Eponine asked sleepily.

"Yeah I do."

He kissed her quickly, not long enough for Gavroche to feel sick but just passionately enough for Combeferre to catch the lovely ending moment on camera.

A few minutes later the song ended and everybody said goodbye to Gavroche. Eponine hugged him tightly and promised to call him before Courfeyrac took him back to the boy's parent's house to make sure he got there safely. The rest of the group slowly trickled out. Eponine and Enjolras left first, thanking everyone for the party, and strolled back to their flat, not strong enough to go any faster than rambling.

Musichetta left after them, eager to get back to Cosette and tell her about her night. The rest of the boys left in pairs, leaving Combeferre to drag Grantaire onto his sofa.

He clicked the camera screen shut, pleased with the video of them all. It really had been a great party. No vomiting, no arguing, no broken things (apart from the formerly damaged espresso machine). In a way, Combeferre was glad that Cosette and Marius hadn't gone because, if they had, then the party would have been centred around them fighting. That way no-one would have been as happy.

And that's exactly what they were. Happy.

The calm before the storm, right?

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now…_

**Enjoy it? I hope you did :D Please leave a review! They mean a lot. And if anyone has any prompts, I'd love to hear them. **

**Originally this was meant to be two chapters long and Musichetta and Eponine were meant to see Marius in a jewellery shop in a different chapter but I thought I should start getting everything into place to sort out the Cosette/Marius fiasco. I did edit the hell out of this so please tell me if I've made any mistakes. **

**Oh and none of the lyrics I used in this belong to me, only to Oasis and Bon Jovi. Thanks for reading!**


	6. It's Crunch Time, Mayor Douchebag

**Hello, my lovelies, how are you? You can tell me, you know, I'd love to know how you are. Thanks to **_**OnginalMaz**_**, **_**preciousat**_**, **_**Sapphire Iota**_**, **_**EllaMia**_**, **_**Sirens in the water, phangirl2017 **_**and to anyone who followed or favourited . You guys, along with the gravitational pull from the sun, really do make the world go around. Aren't my compliments sickeningly nice? ;D**

**Just a quick note, I imagine Enjolras and Eponine's apartment to be like Monica and Chandler's apartment from Friends. I just thought it would help with the visualisation of the story. **

6. It's Crunch Time, Mayor Douchebag

Enjolras groaned as he woke up, massaging his forehead. He had barely drunk anything the night before but that small amount of alcohol combined with the dizzy motion sickness of the dancing he had done was making him feel distinctly like a small raccoon was blunting its claws against his temples. He'd never been subject to that experience himself but he imagined that this minor hangover would be the same sort of feeling as Grantaire had had when he went camping with his family and some angry woodland creatures thought it would be funny to hide in his tent until night-time then use his head as a scratching post. Joly had a theory that Grantaire's alcohol addiction had begun because of that event (although when asked for evidence he had promptly started stuttering unconvincingly) along with his fear of raccoons.

Enjolras moaned again when he heard some quiet soprano chattering coming from the living room. Cosette was there. _Yay._

Then came a boisterous innuendo from another feminine vocal system. Musichetta was there too. _Double yay._

He looked at his clock. It was eight thirty, although it felt like he had been asleep since the dawn of time, so he rolled ungracefully out of his bed, discovering along the way that Eponine was already up or he would have rolled on top of her. He got changed from his night clothes and into some casual attire suitable for a day of child-care and typing.

He opened his bedroom door to find Cosette and Musichetta drinking coffee while Eponine, clad in a dressing gown and some slipper boots had her head in the fridge.

"Hello, girls," he greeted, going to join them on the sofa.

"Mornin', Apollo," replied Musichetta absently.

Enjolras scowled at his irremovable nickname and shuffled closer to Cosette.

"What brings you here so early in the morning?" he asked.

Cosette smiled. "We're women, Enjolras. Early morning coffee is second nature to us."

He chuckled once. "You do seem to do this a lot. How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said, shrugging, "No more tears."

"Good," he said simply. He decided not to go into making a speech about Marius and his incapability to cheat on her, put off the idea by just how weak Cosette looked.

Enjolras frowned as the fact that Eponine had her head in the fridge finally registered as abnormal.

"Uh…Ep?"

She grunted in reply.

"Fridge?" he asked.

"My head feels really hot," came her explanation.

Musichetta leaned over to whisper in his ear. "We convinced her that she doesn't have an ice-pack to use on her head so she has turned to the fridge for comfort."

Enjolras clamped a hand to his mouth to muffle his laughter but decided that she had probably suffered enough.

He strolled over to her and quietly retrieved an ice-pack from the freezer above her head.

"Eponine?"

She swivelled around and rolled her eyes at the ice-pack.

"I was sure I had one," she huffed as she slammed it against her skull, "Girls, I ought to throw you out."

Musichetta pouted. "It was just a joke, love, chill your beans. And you wouldn't throw us out."

Eponine laughed a little then remembered that she had just spent the last five minutes with her head in the fridge and held her middle finger up towards her girlfriends.

"Morning, Enjolras. What have you done so far today? I opened the door to find two crazy girls there, made them coffee then played the pawn in their sick, twisted fridge related game. I also found an ice-pack."

Enjolras nodded in mock-sympathy. "I feel your pain. But I found the ice-pack."

She smiled and kissed him, letting it linger a few seconds just because he wasn't expecting it.

"Get a room!" shouted Musichetta over the noise of the television.

Eponine pulled back. "I'm already in a room, a room that you will be kicked out of if you don't shut up!"

Musichetta stuck her tongue out and turned her attention back to some early-morning comedy show.

"What are you going to do today to continue your accomplishments this morning?" questioned Enjolras, smirking.

Eponine sighed. "I have a long shift at the café today which reminds me, are you going to look for a holiday job?"

Enjolras nodded. "Yeah, I could use my friendly, smiley and not at all unaccommodating personality to be a receptionist or something."

She chuckled but gave him a pointed look to make sure he would take it seriously.

"I promise, I will," he added.

She accepted this and wandered towards Léon's room to wake him up. If he slept any longer then he wouldn't go to bed in the evening and both parents knew what sort of fresh hell that was.

By nine o'clock Léon was sleepily eating a breakfast that Musichetta had made him, Cosette and the best chef in the room had moved to the kitchen table with two fresh cups of coffee and Eponine and Enjolras were caught up in a TV programme.

"Thank you, Tante 'Ta." Léon piped up after he had scrambled off the sofa and clumsily given his plate to Eponine. The little boy had only managed to learn how to say the last syllable of Musichetta's name and it had stuck for months afterwards.

Enjolras lifted Léon to sit beside him then turned head-on, crossing his legs and causing his son to do the same. He did like to copy his Papa.

"Right then, try to say Mus," said Enjolras gently.

"Mus."

Enjolras nodded and continued, "Now say See."

"See," Léon mimicked.

"And now say Chetta."

"Chetta."

"Now put it all together."

Léon concentrated, biting his lip as he put the four syllables together in his head like a jigsaw piece.

"Muchitetta?" he attempted.

Enjolras smiled fondly. "Well done, we'll try again tomorrow," he said, ruffling the little boy's curls. He took the breakfast plates to the sink and started filling up the basin with water and washing-up liquid. Léon obtained a proud expression and slouched back into the sofa cushion.

"Well aren't you adorable?" Musichetta commented from the kitchen table, gazing at Enjolras teasingly as he turned the hot water tap off.

"What?"

She got up and went to stand next to him. "I think my Cute-O-Meter might overload. You just tried to teach your too-lovable-for-words son how to say my name and now you're washing up. I'm in love with you," she joked.

Enjolras blushed and started scrubbing the plates. "Actually, I'm only washing up to prove to Eponine that I can, so this is probably going to be a one-time thing."

Musichetta would have come up with a witty retort if there hadn't been a knock at the door.

"I've got it," announced Eponine, swinging her legs onto the floor from where they were propped up on the arm of the chair. She had shed the ice-pack from her head after it had started melting and dripping cold water down the back of her neck. She would even go as far to say that she was in a relatively good mood, that is, until she opened the door.

"Marius?" she shouted, partly out of shock and partly to be loud enough for Cosette to hear her and find a suitable place to hide.

Marius smiled weakly but in relief and made to step into the flat but was barred out as Eponine's arm shot out to block him from entering.

"'Ponine? Please, is Cosette here?" he pleaded.

"No," she answered quickly.

His face suddenly fell and his hand went into his hair.

"Well, then where is she?! I called around Musichetta's but she wasn't there and I phoned all the boys to see if she had stayed with them. If she's not here then where is she?! Oh my God, what if she's been hurt? What if she took a walk and got mugged or beat up or killed? Or what if she's killed herself? Oh my God, I've caused her so much pain that she turned to suicide! I can't believe it, I made her kill herself! How will I go on? I might as well just curl up and die. Forgive me, 'Ponine, I never meant her any harm! What will I do without her?" he rambled, growing in volume and croakiness as he went on. Eponine panicked at his outburst and felt bad for lying. It had only been to keep Cosette from having an argument with him. She stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind her.

"Jesus Christ, Marius, calm down!" she said fiercely, grabbing his forearms to stop him tearing his thoroughly gelled hair out, "It's okay, she's here!"

Marius gawked and tore his arms from her grip. "Why would you say that? I just thought she had killed herself! How could you lie, Eponine? I need to talk to her!"

He made for the door again but she steered him back away from it and slapped him over the forehead.

"I said she wasn't here because you are being a dick to her! You are such a douchebag. You're like a citizen of Douchebag town, a place where Montparnasse and my father live and pass the time by kicking innocent animals. No, you're not Citizen Douchebag anymore; you've just been upgraded to Mayor Douchebag. Congratulations, Mayor, you're well on your way to being Marius the First, King of the Douchebags, ruler of bastards everywhere."

Marius sighed and thumped his head against the wall, as good as ignoring her insults. "This is so messed up!"

Eponine crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Well, it's your fault, you cheated on her."

Marius looked up to the roof in pure disbelief at the situation. "I didn't cheat on her!"

"Then you better have a good excuse for all this shit or you shall not pass!" she yelled.

Marius took a jump back and surrendered. "Alight, Gandalf, I'll explain but not only to you. I need to speak to her first."

Eponine sighed and grabbed him by his shirt collar. "Fine, but it better be good and you better not hurt her ever again and you better not swear in front of Léon during this oh-so-brilliant explanation."

"I promise," he whimpered.

"Good, now get your arse in there."

Marius straightened up and took a deep breath then entered the apartment with a sceptical Eponine behind him.

Musichetta grunted at his entrance, about to go and punch him, but Eponine gave her the warning eyes and she backed off. She still scowled in his general direction.

"Hi Marius," greeted Enjolras warily, being the only person apart from Léon who was in a relatively good mood with Marius. The 'Great Cheater' as Musichetta had named him nodded absently at Enjolras but couldn't take his eyes off Cosette who was sitting stiffly in the armchair, looking anywhere but at Marius.

"Cosette," he began nervously, "Please, will you listen to me?"

The blonde frostily glared at him and tilted her head. "Thank you for taking you tongue out of some other girl's throat long enough to ask me that."

"No, Cosette, that's not –"

She held up a hand to silence him. "You can talk. I'm not saying I'll listen but you can talk."

Marius, content with any chance he got, went to the sofa and sat down next to where Léon had dozed off.

"Will you put Léon in his bed, 'Ras? I don't want him to be around if there's any shouting," said Eponine.

Enjolras nodded and scooped his son up, taking him into his bedroom. Eponine and Musichetta crept closer to the back of the sofa to get a better view of the show. This was going to be _good. _

"I promise that I have reasons for all of this," he started, "It's not what it seems. It just escalated too quickly but you need to know that I never meant it to get so bad. It's important that you know I love you and I never meant for this to happen -"

"Get to the point, Romeo," urged Musichetta.

Eponine shushed her and let Marius continue.

"Over the past week I've been trying to regain a relationship with my parents. I didn't tell you because I wanted to surprise you and keep it a secret, so I left in the mornings so you wouldn't ask me where I was going. I realise now that you would wake up and wonder. I didn't even consider that you would make the assumption that I was cheating on you, but now I do think about it there wouldn't have been any other explanation, what with the lipstick of my mother's on my cheek. She always did wear too much of that stuff."

Cosette, now leaning forward slightly and frowning, opened her mouth to speak. "Why couldn't you just tell me? I've wanted you to get back in contact with your parents for ages. I don't understand."

Eponine rested on the back of the sofa and tilted her head at Marius. "And what were you doing at the jewellers yesterday? Me and Enjolras saw you there when we were walking to the party."

Marius huffed. "I guess it's all going to come out, isn't it?" he muttered, "I was trying to get my mother to trust me enough to give me my grandmother's engagement ring. I knew it was going to take a while so I stuck with it but when I finally told them exactly why I was contacting them again they thought I was using them and they refused me. So I went to the jewellers to get an engagement ring. It wasn't my first choice but…"

"Why did you want your grandmother's engagement ring from your parents in the first place?" asked Enjolras who had returned from settling Léon down.

"Well, I may as well do it now," said Marius under his breath.

He retrieved a small black box from his breast pocket and began to kneel down in from of Cosette.

"Oh, dear Christ, he's actually lost his mind," mumbled Eponine from behind her hands.

"I can't not look," Musichetta whispered, wide-eyed at the scene in front of her.

"Cosette," Marius began, "I'm sorry that we've been fighting and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to propose with my grandmother's ring but this ring is beautiful too," he said softly, opening the box to reveal a white-gold princess-cut diamond ring. Cosette didn't make a sound, just sat there with her mouth wide open and her eyes about to pop out of there sockets.

"But I thought, if we were bound to each other, then we could work out all our differences and have a happy life together. More than that, though, I love you and can't imagine being with anyone else. Will you marry me?"

Cosette brought a hand to her mouth and stuttered.

There was only one thing that summed up the situation and it was quite fitting that the unfortunate onlookers said it in unison.

"Oh dear God."

**A cliffhanger? Mwahahahahaha. Sorry, leaving it like that was as irresistible as Enjolras. Don't worry, I won't take long to update. That was the most fun to write. I did edit it a lot but I've got the lingering feeling that there's still some mistakes in there. If you find any then just tell me and I'll sort it out. Reviews are much appreciated :D **


	7. Couple Problems And Pick-Up Lines

**Hi there. Yeah, sorry for whole load of M/C that's been happening but, don't worry, it's all for a good cause. After this chapter there's definitely a lot of E/E. Thank you to Emilia, Sirens in the water, J91, Sapphire Iota, OnginalMaz, phangirl2017, preciousat, BrokenArchAngel, Enjolrasinmybed, Guest and AmethystWren for your constructive criticism and kind words. Enjoy the chapter. **

Agonizing silence. Eponine tried looking at Cosette intensely to coax an answer out of her but the blonde just sat with her head down. It truly was painful to watch as Marius floundered under the quiet, making several noises that had similarities to the dying moments of a cat. Enjolras settled for switching weight from foot-to-foot and clearing his throat _a lot _until Eponine jabbed him in the side so he would stop. Musichetta, cringing at every second that passed, leaned to whisper in Eponine's ear.

"I think this is the longest anyone has not talked _ever_," she murmured.

"I may cry," she muttered back.

Marius looked like _he_ was about to cry and started getting pins and needles in the knee he was putting his weight on. Cosette gulped and, very slowly and shakily, reached out to close the ring box, treasuring the feel of the velvet lid in her palm.

"No."

It was lucky that Grantaire wasn't there or he would have spat out his beer on the sofa and Eponine knew too well how hard that was to get out of light linen polyester. The unfortunate onlookers who were present stared in wide-eyed confusion.

Marius swallowed. "Oh."

Cosette smiled a small, kind smile. "It doesn't mean I don't love you but we can't get married! Do you really think making ourselves more committed is going to sort out of problems?"

"I guess?" Marius tried, grimacing.

"Look, just because I haven't said 'yes' doesn't mean we have to break up. It's taking a lot of will power not to accept because you know that I've been planning my wedding since I was fifteen and, sure, I am the hopeless romantic but we're not ready."

Marius bit his lip and quickly tucked the engagement ring back in his pocket thinking that if he did it fast enough then the event would be wiped from everybody's memories.

"I…erm… really should have thought this through before buying a 300 euro engagement ring, shouldn't I?"

Musichetta let out a low whistle at the price.

"Yes, I think you should have done," replied Cosette.

There was another uncomfortable silence as Marius realised he was still on one knee and inelegantly got up to sit on the edge of the sofa, hands clasped.

"Marius?" Cosette asked concernedly. She moved to sit next to him and held his hand.

He rubbed his face like he was getting sleep out of his eyes and sighed loudly.

"I'm fine, it's just…it's not everyday that you get a marriage proposal rejected."

Cosette put her arm around him and pressed her forehead against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. It was stupid. I'm kind of wishing that these guys weren't here to witness this, though," he said, smiling glumly and pointing at the three eaves-droppers.

"Yeah, I'm not going to lie, Marius, it was a pretty dumb thing to do," smirked Eponine fairly, "But it took balls to do it. Well done."

Marius accepted her pat on the shoulder. Eponine hoped that Enjolras had taken the hint that he needed to grow some and ask her to marry him but his indifferent, if slightly amused expression told her otherwise. She sighed and shook her head when Musichetta silently questioned the weary exhale.

Cosette was still comforting Marius. "But we're still – we're still together, right?" Marius queried.

The blonde swallowed and frowned. "Yes?"

"Well, that 'yes' was comforting," he bit.

This time Musichetta, Eponine and Enjolras went to the other side of the room. It wasn't fair anymore. They knew that Marius hadn't cheated on her and that was great, but their relationship looked like it was taking a turn for the worse and Marius and Cosette didn't need an audience. They busied themselves with looking out the window at the morning, trying to appear vaguely interested in the greyness outside.

"It's just, with me saying… with what just happened, I don't think it's a good idea to go straight back to living with each other after that."

Marius scoffed. "So you want to take a break?"

"No, no!" Cosette panicked, "No, I just think maybe we should just take things slower to…to clear our heads and get rid of the bad atmosphere."

Marius nodded and huffed. "So what do you want to do? Am I still with you?"

There was some more quiet but it wasn't awkward. On Cosette's side, the silence was contemplative and made noisy by the thoughts in her head but Marius' silence was empty, hopeful even but still full of embarrassment by his actions beforehand.

"Of course we are. But we need to take things slower, like I said. Much slower. I know we've been together for so long but maybe starting from the beginning will help us out."

Marius, a little happier knowing that he wasn't without his darling Cosette, bit his lip.

"I'll move in with Musichetta and I'll meet you at the Musain, for our first date. We'll take it from there, yeah?" Cosette continued.

Marius nodded, not entirely happy that she was going to move out but still content with the arrangement.

"Yeah."

Cosette grinned, trying to coax a smile out of him, and kissed his cheek. She waved goodbye to the three by the window who had been desperately trying not to listen to the exchange.

"You alright, darlin'?" Eponine asked as she approached Marius. He nodded, a small smile forming on his face.

"Yes," he replied simply before sauntering out of the door without so much as a goodbye.

Musichetta sighed. "I'm not entirely sure if what just happened was good or bad."

"I think – I think it was…good?" Enjolras tried, frowning, "I mean, they're not fighting."

"But their not living together…" clarified Eponine.

Enjolras narrowed his eyes. "And that is a bad thing. Right?"

Musichetta waved her hands. "Look, they're obviously happy or close enough so let's just drop it until we have to retell the story to the boys."

Enjolras and Eponine saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

Musichetta rolled her eyes and made for the door. "I was trying not to listen to the conversation but I definitely heard Cosette say that she was moving in with me," she huffed, "I better get her settled in, God knows she's not going to do it herself."

Eponine gave her friend a patronising pat before Musichetta left as well, asking Eponine to give Léon a kiss from her.

"Well, that was an eventful morning. I don't think I can deal with it," muttered Enjolras as soon as Musichetta closed the door behind her. Eponine smiled and wrapped both arms around his waist.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You still have bed-hair, though."

Enjolras ran a subconscious hand through his hair and looked at Eponine again.

"How do I look?"

"So hot that you melted the underwire in my bra," she replied matter-of-factly.

Enjolras raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Did you honestly just use a pick-up line on me?"

"Yes, I did. Issue?"

"Nope. Only, do you have a mirror pocket because I can see myself in your pants."

She laughed and jabbed him in the stomach. "Grantaire gave you that one didn't he?"

"Maybe."

She giggled again. "Okay, maybe I like it when you use lame pick-up lines on me but we have to stop before I throw-up."

Enjolras sighed and untangled himself from her arms to sit on the dining room chair.

"Fine. I won't use anymore if you won't use anymore."

Eponine smiled slyly. She liked this game.

"Are you shivering?" she asked.

"No, why?"

"You look cold, do you want to use me as a blanket?"

Enjolras grinned. "Very nice."

There was a silence like both people were testing each other to talk first. Eponine glanced suspiciously at Enjolras one last time before gathering the mugs up and put them in the sink.

"Hey, Eponine?"

"Yeah?" she answered without turning away from the basin.

"Do you like sleeping?"

She frowned. "Yeah, I guess."

"Really? Well, I like sleeping too, we should try it together some time."

He couldn't even start laughing before Eponine threw the dish cloth at his face. He threw it back into the sink and tugged her onto his lap.

"I hope you don't use these pick-up lines on other women," Eponine warned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, like I'd have enough confidence to a) approach a woman without being under the influence of alcohol or b) to the face the consequences of you injuring me severely if I dared to try. Also, I've seen Grantaire use these pick-up lines on random women he fancied sleeping with and they didn't go down well."

"Really?"

"You remember when Grantaire had a broken nose because he walked into a lamppost a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah."

"Well, unless the lamppost was a girl's fist then, yes, he walked into a lamppost," Enjolras finished, grinning.

Eponine held her hands to her mouth. "You're kidding."

"No," he chuckled, "He said to the bar maid 'Would you like to try an Australian kiss. It's like a French kiss, only down under' and she punched him in the face. He also got thrown out because the owner of the club discovered that he hit on her. The owner of the club was also the bar mad's boyfriend."

Eponine whistled. "I am so going to use this story against Grantaire."

"He'll murder me if he found out I told you," Enjolras murmured, wondering exactly why he told Eponine that story.

"Now I have something to use against you," she smiled before kissing him slowly. It was a sweet kiss, one that barely progressed beyond the parting of lips, just to assure him that she wouldn't use it against him, unless in dire circumstances. She pulled away and finished by ghosting a light kiss on the tip of his nose.

"But I'm a friendly human being, so if you are nice to me then Grantaire won't ever know you told me," she said, jumping off his lap.

He got up too and stretched.

"And what does me being nice to you involve?"

"Whatever you deem appropriate. Or inappropriate," she said with an over-exaggerated wink.

This made him both blush and laugh, causing her to smile with him.

"You're cute when you blush. It's highly enjoyable," she chuckled.

"I try."

She ruffled his hair and returned to the sink to swill out the mugs. Enjolras swiped up the newspaper from the table and began reading the headlines. Eponine bit her lip as, with the silence, came the recent feeling of agitation.

She couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated with Cosette for rejecting Marius' offer, no matter how hare-brained it was. Cosette knew how much she wanted Enjolras to ask her the same question yet she had treated the proposal like it was nothing. Well, maybe not nothing but she treated it like something that would come along every other day. It would probably take Marius a long time to build up the courage to ask Cosette ever again and it wasn't like she couldn't handle planning her own wedding and dealing with being married to Marius for a few months until they sorted out their problems. She couldn't help but me a little frustrated with Enjolras too for missing all the hints she had been giving him over the past two months. She had even considered proposing to him herself but she found something strangely unfeminine about that. It wasn't that she wouldn't have the confidence to ask but she had always dreamed, ever since she was a homeless brat with a head full of her mother's fairytales, that her very own handsome prince would declare that he wanted her to be his forever and she would feel like the princess she always wanted to be. She owed this to the little homeless girl she once was.

"Enjolras," she stuttered, unsure of herself, "what were your childhood dreams?"

He looked up from his reading. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, what did you want to do with your life when you were little?"

Enjolras folded his newspaper and tossed it back onto the table, acquiring a thoughtful expression.

"Well, my father always favoured my sisters to me so I never got much input from him on what I should do when I'm older; he was too busy telling the girls how beautiful they are," he chattered, not pausing for breath. Enjolras was one of triplets. Eponine didn't get on with Dorienne but could tolerate Valentine when she wasn't in her sister's company.

This wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping for but she humoured him to keep him talking.

"Do your sisters still live with your parents?" she asked.

"Of course. They may be beautiful but they're close-minded. Why would taking a step into the world appeal to them when they could stay in a mansion with rich people?"

Eponine stacked the mugs in the drainer, accidentally scratching one against a fruit knife in the compartment next to it.

"What about Clarisse? Did she ever encourage you?" Eponine wondered aloud. Clarisse was Enjolras' mother who Eponine thought often preferred her to her own daughters.

"Yes," he said with a smile, "She always hoped I would be someone significant, even it was just to meet my own standards. I doubt that will ever happen now but I hope I still make her proud. I've barely heard of them since I was cut off."

Eponine nodded and turned to sit in the chair next to him. You would think that Enjolras was on bad terms with his family since he was cut of from his inheritance but it was quite the opposite. Enjolras' father, Matthieu, only cut him off because Enjolras wanted to have a life where he didn't have to rely on his parents. If anything, Matthieu had done what he did to help Enjolras along the way to making it on his own. Enjolras respected that. He had hoped that his sisters would have followed his lead but they remained stubbornly spoilt and stayed where they felt safe and rich.

He supposed that he hadn't heard from his family for so long was only because they were busy people. They had no personal vendettas against Eponine (apart from the childish dislike that Dorienne held for her) and they adored Léon.

"Was there anything else your mother wanted you to do when you grow up?" she asked firmly. Enjolras narrowed his eyes, wondering what she was getting at, but didn't linger on it too long.

"She just wanted me to have to best life possible. If I ever did something important, then that was a bonus. She just wanted me to grow up well, get some credentials, get a job, find a girl, have a kid and not to die before she dies," he chuckled.

Eponine sighed quietly in relief, finally she was getting somewhere at the mention of marriage.

"And what did you think about what she wanted? Will you please her and do what she said?"

He smiled. "She's just happy that she has a grandchild to speak of."

Eponine face palmed when his eyes were away from her and wondered whether she had the most oblivious boyfriend in the world. They were literally on edge of talking about marriage. Should a man of his IQ really be so ignorant to some things?

"What about the other things she wanted?" she pressed, that close to clawing her own face off.

"Well, I have grown up well. I guess my teachers didn't exactly love my talent for rebelling against school rules but I got good grades. I'm getting my degrees from college. I've found a girl," he said smugly, "She won't really care if I don't get married as long as I'm happy."

Eponine frowned. "So as long as your mother is happy with you now then you don't see the need to get married?"

"Not really. Marriage never really felt necessary," he shrugged, spilling the words out like they were the easiest things in the world. He turned back to his newspaper. She fell back in her chair.

"Oh."

Enjolras noticed her change in tone and looked up again.

"Ep?"

She snapped out of her trance and plastered on a weak smile. "What? I'm fine."

He raised a sceptical eyebrow and reached out to take her hand. "Okay, what have I said?"

"Nothing, nothing," she fussed, "I've…er…I've just got a headache coming on, is all."

"Okay, do you want some aspirin…?" he asked before seeing her face fall to new levels, "No, no, I've definitely said something! You were fine a second ago."

Eponine tugged her hand away from his and got up, looking at the watch on her wrist that didn't exist. "Look, I need to get ready for my shift at the Musain."

Enjolras alternatively looked at the perfectly existent clock on the wall above her head.

"Eponine, your shift isn't for another hour, what's wrong?"

She ignored him and rushed off to Léon's bedroom to wake him up. His sleeping form made her smile. He was curled into himself with an angelic smile on his face. She was probably biased but she likened her son to an angel. She would just dress him up in white robes, toss him a harp and voila, she had her very own darling cupid look-a-like.

"Come on, ma petit, wake up," she cooed. He stirred and grumbled but let his eyes flicker open to see his Mama smiling down at him. He smiled too because when Mama smiled he should smile because Mama's happiness meant his happiness. But even Léon could see that she looked sad, dishevelled even. She scooped him up and kissed his forehead, pressing her cheek against his, then went back out into the living room.

"Eponine, what's wrong?" Enjolras asked worriedly as soon as she met him in the kitchen to give Léon to him.

She painted on a more convincing smile just to keep him happy. "Nothing, I promise. I just…I wanted to get there early to make sure the café is definitely clean," she lied.

By the time she was dressed and decent she was forty minutes early for her shift. Enjolras had stayed in the living room with Léon, entertaining him with his favourite book. His head shot up when she came out of her bedroom, hoping to find her smiling. She hadn't had a chance to perfect her happy-mask before she approached him so she looked a little tired. She kissed him on the lips and kissed Léon's forehead before grabbing her bag.

"I'll see you later, my darlin's," she called from the door before she escaped into the hallway.

She felt like she could finally breathe, even if they were only short raggedy breaths. Her heart had been pumping for the entire time in the apartment. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she should have told Enjolras exactly how she felt but just that little conformation that one of the people that she loved in world wouldn't consider proposing unless she confronted him scared her. But she wouldn't pressure him. Of course she could always hope that he would change his mind, right? And if he didn't then that was fine, too. She would come to terms with it. She just needed time to clear her head then she would be okay. She knew that she wasn't going to sacrifice Enjolras and Léon just because marriage wasn't on the cards, she would rather die than lose them, but it still hurt to know that maybe her little homeless girl's dream of feeling like a princess at her wedding might not come true.

**Thanks for reading. Again comments, concrit or anything you have to say are really appreciated. I'm sorry for any mistakes but I need to get something else done and I haven't fine-edited it. Please point out any mistakes. **


	8. The Meaningful Words Between The Hiccups

**So sorry for the wait! I honestly thought I would get this next chapter up last week but d'you know what school did? Got in the way. Anyway, thank you to Enjolrasinmybed, Sirens in the water, phangirl2017, Darci the Thespian, PurpleMissAliceWhitlock, AmethystWren and Sapphire Iota for reviewing the last chapter. Thank for putting up with me!**

8. The Meaningul Words Between The Hiccups

Eponine broke another cup from throwing in too hard into the sink for washing. The fractured pieces of pottery made Eponine pout and look like she was going to kill someone. She sighed and started picking up the pieces, gathering them all in her left hand as she pinched them from the sink with her left. At one point she clutched the pieces too tightly and a particularly jagged edge sliced into her hand.

"Fuck!" she shouted, making every single one of the people in the café look up, mildly disgusted.

Mathilde apologised to them then thwacked Eponine's shoulder.

"What do you think you are doing?" she whispered irritably.

Mathilde softened a little when she saw a small trickle of blood dripping down Eponine's hand and plucked the pieces of broken cup from it, into her own. She chucked them into the open-top bin beside her and dragged Eponine into the back room to deal with her hand, motioning for the other waitress to man the counter.

Once the door to the back room was closed, Mathilde sat Eponine on a step ladder and reached for the first aid kit on the top shelf.

"What do you have against the pottery?" she asked.

Eponine shrugged. "They won't do what they tell them and then people look at me weird for talking to cups."

Mathilde smiled and pulled out a wipe to clean her hand with. The cut wasn't too deep and was only the length of her little finger but Eponine still hissed when the wipe made contact with the gash.

Once the blood had been cleaned away, the older girl peeled a large patch plaster from its wrappings and pressed it on.

Eponine sighed. "Well, I guess I should pay you for all the cups I've broken."

Mathilde shrugged. "No need."

"Why?"

"Because I'm nice and we have, like, a billion cups to spare. How many did you break?"

Eponine ducked her head. "Six."

"Okay so now we're down to nine-hundred-million-million-and-ninety-four. Or Something like that. Big deal."

Eponine laughed. "Yeah, I s'pose."

Mathilde cut a length of bandage and wrapped it around Eponine's hand.

"So," she began, "What put you in such a bad mood?"

Eponine huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose free fingers. "It's nothing. Besides I'll get over it."

"I'm sure you will but you'll feel better if you talk to someone about it," the other reasoned, securing the dressing with a safety pin. She hopped onto a table-top so she was level with Eponine on the step ladder.

"Tell me."

Eponine shook her head and slid off the ladder, the back of her shirt riding up on the steps.

"Come on, Ep, I promise you'll feel better!" Mathilde whined.

"No," Eponine said firmly, "Whatever is going on is between me and Enjolras."

"So it's something about Enjolras," she other girl deducted with a raised eyebrow.

Eponine bit her lip, annoyed at her slip up, and turned back to her employer.

"Look, it's nothing. I'm just not feeling great today. And you are my boss, so me talking to you about my home life is very unprofessional. "

Mathilde surrendered, disheartened to continue her questioning by the look of tiredness in Eponine's eyes and jumped down from the table, her bouncy black curs falling out of there pony-tail a little.

"Fine," she said, moving to go out of the back room. She paused when she was beside Eponine and leant to talk in her ear.

"But you know where I am if you want anything."

Eponine frowned, still against the idea of telling anyone, and followed Mathilde back out into the café.

She picked up a dish cloth and some disinfectant then started cleaning the occasional spot of blood on floor where the liquid had oozed from the cut on her hand.

A customer came to the counter so Eponine painted on her most convincing smile and served them the caramel cappuccino they ordered. This was going to be long day.

At the end of her shift, she pulled on her coat, muttering profanities when she found out that the sleeves were inside out, and waved an absent-minded goodbye to whoever was behind the counter. It was around two o'clock when she walked out of the café and into the bitterly cool air. She zipped up her coat until it was covering her neck and shoved her hands in her pockets. She licked her chapped lips and began walking home, against the wind much to her chagrin. It was a biting day, the distorted circle of sun was masked by strings of clouds, looking like a torch with cotton wool stretched over it. She snuggled inside her coat tighter to try and calm her shivering muscles only to be tensed up again when a voice calling her name took her by surprise.

"Eponinnie, come 'ere, gimme a hug!" slurred her favourite drunk.

She turned towards the direction of the incoherency and smiled tiredly.

"Grantaire, it's two o'clock and you already smell like you've been bathing in beer. I'll probably get drunk by coming into contact with you so I'll leave the hug 'til later, thanks."

Grantaire pretended to pout. "I'm huggin' ya, anyway."

She didn't push him away because no matter how good natured he seemed when drunk like this he was always a little temperamental and she couldn't afford him to cause a scene right outside where she worked. She wasn't going to lie, Grantaire gave great hugs, even when he was this wasted.

"Come on, I can't let you wander the streets in this state, come home with me," she said.

Grantaire nodded. "Eppy, I'm not even holdin' a bottle, I'm not that drunk ya know."

She smiled. "Oh yeah, of course you're not and might I say that you're articulation is incredible."

He yawned and leaned against her shoulder. "That's an awful big word for me."

They began walking slowly in the direction she was going. She linked her arm with his in case he felt unsteady.

"'Ow's the kid?" Grantaire asked.

"He's fine, he's with Enjolras," she said quickly.

Grantaire half-smiled, the mention of his stoic best friend looking after a child willingly always baffled him, and pulled out a cigarette lighter from the inside pocket of his jacket. He only had one cigarette left in his jeans pocket but he was too drunk to reason with himself and save it until later.

Eponine slapped at his hands. "No, stop it! Don't you dare light it!"

Grantaire made a defensive noise and pulled the cigarette out of her reach. "But I'm hungry! And don't pretend you don't wanna drag!"

Eponine sighed at him and retracted her hand, allowing him to light it because she wasn't going to win.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh come on, Eponina, you used to smoke all the time before you got knocked up," he reasoned.

She found it bemusing how he almost never got her name right when this hammered. She rolled her eyes at this.

"Yes, and I intend to keep it that way, moron."

Grantaire scoffed and waved the cigarette in font of her, the smoke getting in her eyes and making them water.

"Go on, nasty, take a drag," he taunted. Eponine flicked his forehead and declined, keeping her vision straight ahead of her. Her face, now not distracted by Grantaire's antics, went stony again to mirror her mood.

"What's the matter with ya, Eppy?" the drunk asked, traces of concern leaking through his thick-with-alcohol voice.

"Nothing. And don't try to guess."

"Okay, I'll try to guess," he laughed, saying it loud enough to scare a passing stranger.

Eponine sighed tiredly but humoured him, even though it was difficult to take him seriously when he started hiccupping.

"Bad day at work?"

"Meh. It was alright," she replied, opting not to bring attention to her injured hand.

Grantaire clumsily stroked his stubbly chin. "Your confidence is, like, this low?" he tried, touching the ground to illustrate his point. He tripped trying to get up and had to get assistance from Eponine.

"Nah, my confidence is great," she mumbled. Grantaire took a drag from his cigarette then sneaked his brandy flask from his pocket for a sip when Eponine wasn't looking.

"Ya sure? I mean, ya shouldn't be, Ep, you're, like, fucking gorgeous. I'd be sleepin' with ya if I knew Enjol – Ejnol – Enjolras wasn't gonna punch my face in."

Eponine frowned. "Well, that was flattering in a weird kind of way."

Grantaire nodded, proud of himself. "But ya gonna tell me what's wrong, righ'?

"And what if there's nothing wrong?"

"Then you're lyin'."

Eponine pouted. "You've got to promise that you'll allow me to get you sober after I tell you this so you won't remember a thing."

It normally happened like this, Grantaire would get drunker than anything and, in the hangover mornings, his friends would have to retell whole days that his memory had let pass during his frequent inebriated states.

"But soberness is the actual worst."

The girl raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, fine I'll be sober after this and will never remember it until the day I die."

She narrowed his eyes at him, testing him, until he gave her a nod. Grantaire was the safest option to tell this to. He wouldn't make fun of her, he only ever teased her lightly about minor things and he was the best at dealing with peoples problems because he had his own issues. Grantaire was easy to relate to and Eponine appreciated that. She took a deep breath.

"Okay, I guess I'm a little disappointed that Enjolras isn't interested in marriage but you know I'm fine with it and I'm just sulking and I'll be fine in a few hours but right now all I wanna do is -"

"Snuggle up with a hot chocolate an' spend an evenin' watchin' Doctor Who?"

"The David Tennant series'?"

"Yeah."

"Then yeah."

Grantaire nodded and dragged on the cigarette again.

"Ya know, I wouldn't be surprised if Enj isn't a marriage guy."

Eponine looked up at him through her hair, a little surprised that he had taken the news of her situation so lightly.

"How so?"

"Well, think 'bout it, Enjolras was never interested in relationships when 'e was younger so it took 'im, like, ever to want to be with someone."

"What's your point?"

Grantaire spontaneously flung his arms out as if that explained. "If it took 'im that long to be interested in relationships then imagine 'ow long it'll take 'im to be ready to get married. I know, you and 'im 'ad Léon and that was a big commitment but neither of you planned for tha' to 'appen so Enjolras probably wasn't ready to have a kid when ya did but he just adjusted to it and it all worked out well. But getting' married involves commitment that is completely planned and not somethin' that he can learn to adjust to when it 'appens by accident. Marriage probably scares the hell outta him 'cause he only just learnt how to have a girlfriend and a kid. Yeah, I know that he's been with ya for five years but that's 'how long it takes Apollo to learn anything that's not politics or smarts."

Eponine was silent for a moment and just kept on walking. It took a moment for it to sink in but in the end she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and leant her head against it.

"You know, 'Taire, it's weird how when you're drunk you make perfect sense to me yet when you're sober you make no sense at all."

"I try."

They continued walking to Eponine's flat, the place where she would thwack Enjolras across the head for being so noncommittal but she would kiss him, still. She'd wait for him and be patient, though, she couldn't exactly blame him for not wanting everything she wanted. It was ironic how a semi-conscious drunk had kind of made it make sense.

"Still, if he doesn't propose by the end of twenty years then I'm going to pounce on him," she muttered.

Grantaire dropped his cigarette on the floor and stamped it out. "I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate that."

**Some cute Grantaire/Eponine friendship for you. I kind of ship Mathilde/Eponine a little bit, I'm not going to lie. I hope you enjoyed this and, again, sorry for the wait and please leave a review. **


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